Oga Scratches I beg o, you be crusader or DV applicant. Well please let me remind you that there is a clear difference between the two. If you are a DV applicant, the surest way is to play by the rules first.
Anyhow, my dear forum people yours truly arrived in the states on the 13th of January. I came with Turkish Airlines, their price was good 823usd with a stop at Turkey. However about an hour and half to landing, one guy collapsed on board it was initially a horrifying moment for me. He sat about three rows behind at the window side. When he passed out the lady he shared the seat row with got up, called a cabin crew and started pointing to the direction of the wing through the window, so I thought it was something she saw on the wing until I realized it was someone who collapsed. That incident caused the port authorities in Istanbul to delay our disembarkation for almost an hour cos they needed to be sure he did not collapse out of Ebola or something. This also resulted in some of us missing our flights from Istanbul. We got scheduled for another flight later in the day.
When we arrived at JFK, there was a long queue but it also kind of moved steadily. It got to my turn and I went to an immigration official he asked questions like where I am coming from, what work I do and what brought me to the States, I told him and he asked for the pack and I handed it to him. Before then he took my fingerprint again. He opened the pack studied the documents and asked me to follow him to another room where I believe they were doing the final processing of immigrants, there were lots of us that night. In case anyone is wondering what is in the pack it is your documentation you submitted at the interview; medical and police report, birth, academic and marriage certificates that's all. Please not open the package. So I waited in that processing room for an hour and I was called to come an sign a form and that was all.
I have been in New York since and I am still waiting for my SS card. If it does not come by Tuesday which happens to be the 3rd week after arrival then I will go to the nearest SS office and follow the procedure they have there.
Right now I am on a road trip to Minneapolis will spend about a month there before coming back to NY.
My people this is a dream come true, to walk freely on the streets of the US and even approach police for directions without fear of being bundled and sent home is so real. You can also enjoy this but please, FOLLOW THE RULES!